Office Trends: 4 Tips for Improving Office Efficiency

If you’re looking for ways to improve productivity and performance in your workplace, then there’s no better place to start than with comfortable, ergonomic chairs. However, if you really want to increase your performance, a comfortable place to sit while you work should not be where you stop. Where do you go from there? Well, here are a few options you might want to consider.

#1: Get Feedback From Your Staff

This particular piece of advice is touted by Jim Kim, the President at The World Bank. According to The Financial Post, Kim believes that the best way to be an effective leader is to listen to feedback from your staff, and to accept it with humility.

As a policy, this offers you several benefits. One is that when people feel they are being listened to, it makes them feel valued as part of a workforce. Those who feel valued tend to be more engaged, which makes them work harder. Additionally, getting information from your staff means you’re getting a perspective you might not normally see from where you sit. This allows you to make changes that reduce problems and help you run more efficiently.

#2: Encourage Your Staff to Focus and Prepare

Too often, we clock in and just try to handle whatever comes at us in no particular order. This results in a lot of energy being wasted by doing things haphazardly, squandering energy that could achieve a lot more if it were focused. This is why it’s important to encourage your staff to take a moment at the beginning of their shift to take a deep breath and review what they’re going to accomplish today.

Think of the workday like an hour at the gym. Will you get better results by just picking up random weights and spending an arbitrary amount of time on the treadmill? Or, will you get more done by focusing on certain muscle groups and performing exercises geared toward certain kinds of progress? Well the latter, obviously, and the same is true when it comes to the workplace. If your staff needs a little help, they can even fill out one of these simple worksheets to focus on their priorities.

#3: Download Time-Saving Applications

How much time can someone lose digging through all the notes on their desk regarding appointments, passwords, what they need to do that day? A lot, as it turns out. Which is why you should target this kind of disjointed setup, and install an application that can cut down on all the chaff and mess. Something like Momentum, which offers an inspirational quote, a sleek display image, and which tracks progress on all the tasks that need to be done that day. This scythes through all that unnecessary paper cluttering a work area, and helps your staff focus on their goals without distractions.

#4: Install Stay Focused

The Internet is a fantastic tool, but it also acts as a time sink if you aren’t careful with your habits. Especially if you tell yourself you’re just going to be on Facebook for twenty minutes, and when you look up it’s been over an hour. That’s where Stay Focused comes into the picture. You install this app, configure it to your particular desires, and it keeps you on task. That means cutting you off after a certain amount of time on certain sites, or just stopping you from accessing unnecessary parts of the Internet. You don’t want to disconnect yourself entirely, but if you can eliminate the temptation to spend your energy frivolously, then there’s nothing stopping you from putting it toward your work.

For more tips on getting the most out of your time at the office, simply contact us today!